Medical versus surgical management of incomplete abortion: A literature review

Abstract

Introduction: Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy before the age of viability. When it occurs spontaneously, it is called a miscarriage. There are various types of abortion; a common type is incomplete abortion or miscarriage. Incomplete abortion is the partial loss of the products of conception within the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Incomplete abortion is managed either medically or surgically.

Objectives: The article compares the medical management of incomplete abortion to the surgical management using extensive literature review focusing on the effectiveness, complications, practicality, and preferences by women and gynecologists

Methods: A literature review was conducted to compare both methods of incomplete abortion using academic search engines and databases such as Google Scholar, and PubMed; and a hand search of references from relevant papers.

Results: Research done on this subject recorded a higher success rate and lower complications in the surgical method of management than the medical method. However, especially in low-resource settings, the medical method seems a more practical approach.

Many studies also showed that more women preferred the medical method because it was non-invasive and ensured privacy. However, gynecologists prefer the latter because of its effectiveness and lower complication rates.

Conclusion: More primary studies should be done to further explore the benefits of both methods, and how they can be combined effectively to achieve optimum results.